1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mold assembly for forming a wax pattern in the shape of a golf club head and, more particularly, to such a mold assembly in which a tunnel defined in outer molds of the mold assembly makes such a compensatory angle with horizontal surfaces of the outer molds that the wax pattern may have an opening delimited by a peripheral wall perpendicular to an inclined front face of the wax pattern.
2. Description of Related Art
A known mold assembly for forming a wax pattern in the shape of a golf club head is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. The mold assembly includes a pair of outer molds 11 and 12 releasably coupled together to define a cavity 111 and 121 and a tunnel 112 and 122 therein, with a plurality of mold cores 21 and 22 received in the cavity 111 and 121 and a supporting member 30 received in the tunnel 112 and 122 to hold the mold cores 21 and 22 in the cavity 111 and 121. As soon as melted wax poured into the cavity 111 and 121 becomes cool, a wax pattern 40 in the shaped of a golf club head can be obtained for manufacturing a sequent golf club head afterwards.
In this conventional mold assembly, both the tunnel 112 and 122 and a parting plane 23 between the mold cores 21 and 22 are designed to be parallel to horizontal surfaces of the outer molds 11 and 12, so as to allow the mold cores 21 and 22 and the supporting member 30 to be pull out from the resulting wax pattern 40.
However, the wax pattern 40 has an opening 41 formed in an inclined front face which actually makes an acute angle xcex8 with vertical surfaces of the outer molds 11 and 12. The horizontally support member 30 can not provide the opening 41 with a peripheral wall perpendicular to the inclined front face but, instead, with a peripheral wall oblique to the inclined front face.
Being the same as the wax pattern 40, any sequent golf club head obtained from the pattern 40 will have an opening 41 delimited by a peripheral wall oblique to the inclined front face of the pattern 40. As a necessary striking plate is placed on such a golf club head within the opening 41 during a subsequent welding procedure, a broad gap appears and leads to a less acceptable welding result, particularly when the procedure is performed with a high-energy weld, such as laser welding, plasma arc welding and the like.
The object of the present invention is to provide a mold assembly in which a tunnel defined in outer molds of the mold assembly makes such a compensatory angle with horizontal surfaces of the outer molds that a resulting wax pattern may have an opening delimited by a peripheral wall perpendicular to a front face of the wax pattern, so as to improve wedding quality for any sequent golf club head obtained from the wax pattern.
To achieve the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides a mold assembly comprising a plurality of outer molds coupled together to defined a cavity and a tunnel therein, with a plurality of mold cores received in the cavity and a supporting member received in the tunnel, in order to form a wax pattern that has an opening formed in a front face thereof. Furthermore, both the tunnel and a parting plane between the mold cores make such a compensatory angle with horizontal surfaces of the outer molds that a resulting wax pattern may have an opening delimited by a peripheral wall perpendicular to the front face of the wax pattern.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of this invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.